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Concerns over
proposed 2012
Indian GP date ITALIAN tyre manufacturer Pirelli
is unlikely to bring the hard tyre
compound to any more races this
season.
Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery
explained that, thanks to the durability
of the revised medium tyre compound
currently in use by the teams, the hard
compound would not be needed in the
second half of the 2011 Formula One
season.
“I don’t think we’ll see the hard
compound again,” he said.
“I think it’s probably too hard and that
the medium is proving sufficiently robust
for the aggressive circuits we’ve still got
to come. So don’t think we’ll be going the
hard route.”
The announcement has led to
accusations of Ferrari favouritism during
the slow news period that makes up
Formula One’s summer holiday. But while
it is widely known that the 150o Italia
struggles on the hard compound, the
explanation for Hembery’s reasoning is a
simple one: the Pirelli medium is durable
enough for the next eight races on the
calendar, the bulk of which will take place
in the warmer climates favoured by Ferrari.
The 2011 season has been a learning
process for Pirelli, who became Formula
One’s official tyre supplier after a two-
decade break from the sport. One of the
lessons learned, Hembery said, is that the
current medium compound would be
better used as 2012’s hard.
“Probably next season the medium will
become the hard,” Hembery said. “ We’ll
probably slot something in between the
current softs and mediums – we want to
keep about one second between each.
The super soft and soft gap is about right
to be honest, because you’ve got a 1s
speed advantage but you’ve got a clear
degradation and limitation on use.
“If we could replicate that now with a
new medium and a new hard then I think
we’ll be well placed.”
Pirelli to scrap hard
tyre compound
THE last time Formula One went to Mexico, Boutros-Boutros
Ghali was United Nations Secretary-General, Milli Vanilli had
just been named and shamed as lip-syncing pop frauds, and
Nintendo’s SNES was launched.
We’ve come a long, long way since then.
But talk of a Mexican Grand Prix is now gathering pace,
following the success of Mexican driver Sergio Perez in F1, his
countryman Esteban Gutierrez in 2010’s GP3 championship, and
the Sauber’s TelMex sponsorship, which sees the Swiss team
funded by Mexico’s Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world.
Sauber is the F1 team leading the Mexican revival, with both
Perez and Gutierrez on its books, and further sponsorship from
tequila giants Jose Cuervo.
In an interview with Reuters, Carlos Slim Domit – son of Carlos
Slim – said that the concept of a rebooted Mexican Grand Prix
was “being studied”.
According to Slim Domit, the site ear-marked for the Mexican
Formula One revival is Mexico City’s Hermanos Rodriguez circuit,
which is currently used for concerts and a range of sporting
events including baseball games and NASCAR races.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez played host to the 15
Formula One World Championship events that took place in
Mexico between 1963 and 1992, and was also the site of a non-
championship F1 race in 1962. The track is not currently at F1
standard, and would need major redevelopment before it could
be homologated by the FIA.
F1 to return to Mexico?
Sergio Perez (MEX) Sauber
C29. Sauber Demonstration,
Guadalajara, Mexico, 26
February 2011.